After 20 Years, Left Parties Inch Towards Pre-poll Pact with Congress in Telangana

After a gap of 20 years, the CPI and CPM in Telangana are now inching towards a per-poll alliance with the Congress in the state for the upcoming Assembly polls.

The development comes days after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS announced the candidates’ list of 115 seats out of the total 119, dashing the hopes of the Left parties that were looking to form a pre-poll alliance with the ruling party.

The communist parties supported the BRS candidate in the Munugode by-election held in November last year. After his party’s victory, Rao thanked the CPI and CPM for the association and said the friendship will continue, in order to keep the surging BJP at bay.

Assembly polls in Telangana are scheduled to be held towards the end of the calendar year.

According to CPM Telangana secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, the party has received a call from Manikrao Thakare Congress’ Telangana in-charge for discussion on the subject.

However, a formal round of talks is yet to take place.

“They are inviting us. We have asked them to clarify what they are going to offer us. The talks will depend on their offer to us,” Veerabhadram told PTI.

The aim is to fight the BJP together, he added.

CPI and CPM are asking for five Assembly seats each in the upcoming polls. However, two of the segments that they are seeking happen to be sitting seats of Congress.

“Alliance will be forged depending on how Congress treats us,” CPI secretary Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao said when asked about the possible tie-up with the national party.

The CPM leader said during the Munugode by-poll, the political situation in Telangana was BRS vs. BJP and Chandrasekhar Rao wanted and now after the Karnataka polls, it changed to BRS vs Congress.

Perhaps, KCR might be thinking that in case of a hung assembly after the polls, the BJP will support him in order to ensure that the Congress does not come to power.

The Congress party had a pre-poll alliance with the Left Parties and also TRS (now BRS) in the 2004 General Elections and came to power in Andhra Pradesh (undivided).

The Telangana Congress has started receiving applications online from aspiring candidates for the Assembly polls.